Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Tuesday 7 September 1999

Scottish Executive

Agriculture

Robin Harper (Lothians) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make a statement regarding the justification for the genetic crop research being carried out in Scotland, and give an assurance that no experiment in respect of such research will endanger or compromise any near or adjacent organic farming enterprise.

Ross Finnie: It is essential that scientific information is available on the environmental effects of genetically modified crops before decisions are taken on wider use. It is important that full information is obtained on the effects of genetically modified crops under Scottish conditions, which can be very different from elsewhere in the UK. Sound future policy cannot be formulated without this information.

  The Advisory Committee on Releases to the Environment (ACRE) has advised that the information from decades of experience with producing seeds to specific purity levels can be used to estimate the level of cross pollination which is likely to occur between crops in adjacent fields at specific distances. It is not possible, however, to guarantee absolutely that no cross pollination will occur, even with very large separation distances, although the amount of cross pollination decreases rapidly with distance.

  All crops in the farm-scale evaluations are being grown in accordance with the SCIMAC (Supply Chain Initiative on Modified Agricultural Crops) Code of Practice and Guidelines. The guidelines set out proposed separation distances between GM and non-GM crops and are based on internationally recognised criteria for ensuring high purity in seed production.

Agriculture

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many contractors have already been paid for disposing of rendered material from the BSE cattle cull, who these contractors are, and how much each has been paid.

Ross Finnie: The Intervention Board Executive Agency, whose Board answers to all the UK Agriculture Ministers, which runs the Over Thirty Month Scheme, is responsible for arranging the disposal of the rendered material from the cull.

  The Board has awarded contracts to three companies, and is in negotiation with two others, to incinerate rendered material from the cull.

  The Board also has contracts in place to incinerate direct carcases slaughtered under the Scheme. In Scotland, the Board currently has contracts with Orkney Islands Council, the Scottish Agricultural College, Matheson Jess Sacone Ltd, Dundas Chemical Co, Wescot Hides Ltd and Hamilton (Irvine) Ltd. In addition, a contract with Wm Forrest & Son Ltd provides for the rendering of cull material and disposal of the tallow by-products.

  The contractual terms involved are commercially sensitive and are a matter between the Board and the companies themselves.

Agriculture

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how it is intending to dispose of the rendered material from the BSE cattle cull which still remains in storage and what the estimated cost of disposing of the remaining materials is.

Ross Finnie: The Intervention Board Executive Agency, whose Board answers to all the UK Agriculture Ministers, which runs the Over Thirty Month Scheme, is responsible for the disposal of rendered material produced under it. EU regulations require the material to be destroyed. The Board has incineration contracts with three companies. One of these contracts is currently operational and the other two are due to come on stream next year. In addition, the Board is currently in negotiation with two further companies.

  Some carcases from animals slaughtered under the Scheme are incinerated direct.

  The Board estimate that cost of disposing of the remaining material currently stored in Scotland is approximately £7.1m. This equates to around £98.50 per tonne and includes storage, transportation, final incineration and ash disposal to landfill.

Agriculture

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of rendered material from the BSE cattle cull are currently held in storage and how much does it cost per storage location per month to store this material.

Ross Finnie: There is currently 72,100 tonnes of rendered material held in secure storage at two sites (Ratho and Glenrothes) in Scotland.

  The contractual terms of securing storage space are commercially sensitive and are a matter between the Intervention Board and the companies themselves. On average, the Board pays about £16-18 a year to store one tonne of meat and bonemeal.

Agriculture

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of rendered material from the BSE cattle cull have been disposed off and what method has been used for its disposal.

Ross Finnie: In Scotland, 72,100 tonnes of rendered material is currently held in storage. None of this material has yet been consigned for destruction. The Intervention Board Executive Agency, whose Board answers to all the UK Agriculture Ministers, intends to dispose of the material by incineration. Some 2,800 tonnes of tallow, one of the by-products of the rendering process, has been burnt on-site in Scotland for energy recovery purposes.

  Additionally, around 15,000 tonnes of carcase material from the cull has been sent for direct incineration in Scotland.

Agriculture

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any material from the BSE cattle cull other than rendered material has been disposed of and, if so, what was this material and how was it disposed of.

Ross Finnie: Around 15,000 tonnes of carcase material has been sent for direct incineration in Scotland. In addition, some 2,800 tonnes of tallow, one of the by-products of the rendering process, has been burnt on-site in Scotland for energy recovery purposes.

  The rest of the material is currently being held in secure storage until sufficient incineration capacity is available.

Agriculture

Bruce Crawford (Mid Scotland and Fife) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many tonnes of rendered material from the BSE cattle cull have been disposed of by dispersal on land.

Ross Finnie: None. The preferred method of disposal of meat and bone meal is incineration with energy recovery. Tallow will be sold by tender for use as a fuel.

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what guidelines are in place to ensure that there is no cross-pollination between fields involved in the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crop trials and fields growing non genetically modified commercial crops.

Ross Finnie: The answer to this question is covered by S1W-741.

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-164 by Ross Finnie on 23 June 1999, how many times the Ministerial Committee on Rural Development has met to date; how often its meetings are held; what subjects have been discussed, and what action has resulted from the meetings of the Committee.

Ross Finnie: The Ministerial Committee on Rural Development held its first meeting on 1 September, when it had an initial discussion about how it would take forward its work and the priorities which it would set. The Committee agreed to meet again in early October, when it will finalise its priorities and work plan for the months ahead. Thereafter, it is anticipated that meetings will be held on a regular basis.

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the amount and market value of Intervention Board beef held in Scotland on the first day of each calendar month since March 1996.

Ross Finnie: Since intervention purchasing recommenced in March 1996 intervention beef has been held, in up to 7 cold stores, located in Scotland. The quantities held in store on the first day of each month and their average book value as declared to the European Commission, since then up to 1 August 1999 are given below. In addition there was a small quantity of around 150 tonnes pre 1996 stock of intervention beef held in Scotland. This was incinerated at the European Commission’s instruction.

  

Month and Year 

Total Tonnage

  (boneless beef) 


Value in £ 



1 March 1996 

0 

 


1 April 1996 

0 

 


1 May 1996 

0 

 


1 June 1996 

152 


115,312 



1 July 1996 

263 


237,210 



1 August 1996 

833 


765,744 



1 September 1996 

1,221 


1,162,722 



1 October 1996 

1,614 


1,628,574 



1 November 1996 

2,224 


1,748,131 



1 December 1996 

2,498 


2,155,874 



1 January 1997 

2,728 


2,330,012 



1 February 1997 

2,921 


2,621,480 



1 March 1997 

3,401 


3,177,690 



1 April 1997 

3,994 


3,829,567 



1 May 1997 

4,773 


4,445,859 



1 June 1997 

6,183 


5,927,457 



1 July 1997 

7,200 


7,081,992 



1 August 1997 

7,528 


7,420,425 



1 September 1997 

7,479 


7,461,125 



1 October 1997 

7,460 


7,436,203 



1 November 1997 

7,460 


4,394,686 



1 December 1997 

7,460 


4,444,593 



1 January 1998 

7,460 


4,444,146 



1 February 1998 

7,131 


4,353,048 



1 March 1998 

6,825 


4,251,497 



1 April 1998 

6,463 


4,077,701 



1 May 1998 

6,538 


4,099,914 



1 June 1998 

6,285 


3,966,086 



1 July 1998 

6,201 


3,910,537 



1 August 1998 

5,921 


3,733,960 



1 September 1998 

4,931 


3,109,637 



1 October 1998 

5,737 


3,617,924 



1 November 1998 

5,621 


2,792,400 



1 December 1998 

5,592 


2,783,362 



1 January 1999 

5,516 


2,748,678 



1 February 1999 

5,435 


2,730,001 



1 March 1999 

5,396 


2,710,303 



1 April 1999 

4,955 


2,488,797 



1 May 1999 

4,604 


2,312,497 



1 June 1999 

4,521 


2,270,808 



1 July 1999 

3,946 


1,981,997 



1 August 1999 

3,526 


1,771,039

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive when it expects a Scottish abattoir to be designated as "export only".

Ross Finnie: Any decision to apply for dedicated status under the Date Based Export Scheme is a matter of commercial judgement by those involved. At present in Scotland, we are aware that one plant is giving serious consideration to applying for DBES status and that work on a feasibility study is continuing separately by a joint consortium to establish the viability of dedicating a plant.

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what consultation it has had with Her Majesty’s Government regarding the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crop trials on sites in Scotland.

Ross Finnie: The research programme is a joint one between the UK Government and the Scottish Executive and there is regular and frequent contact in the course of managing the programme.

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to ensure the security and safety of sites in Scotland being used for the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crop trials from environmental group interference; whether it will meet the cost of any security arrangements for these sites and, if so, what budgetary provision has been made for these costs.

Ross Finnie: This is a matter for the consent holder, the relevant land owner or the police as appropriate.

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what proportion of the total costs of the Scottish section of the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crop trials it is contributing and, if this is less than 100%, what are the other funding sources.

Ross Finnie: The programme of farmscale evaluations of the management of genetically modified herbicide tolerant crops is being organised on a UK basis. The total cost of the UK programme, is £3.3m over 4 years, starting in 1999-2000, to which the Scottish Executive is contributing £0.2m. The other funders are the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Agriculture

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the number of Scottish sites involved in the programme of managed development of herbicide tolerant genetically modified crop trials, the location of each of these sites, the size of each site and the dates on which the trials commenced at each site.

Ross Finnie: No decision has yet been taken on the number of Scottish sites which will be involved in the programme of farmscale evaluations of the management of genetically modified herbicide tolerant crops, the location of any sites, the size of each site nor the dates on which such trials will commence.

  There are a number of other programmes involving small scale genetically modified trial plots in Scotland and this is covered by S1W-1010.

Environment

Brian Adam (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to amend the Environmental Protection Act (1990) to give Environmental Protection Officers power to require a person to give their name and address in order to enforce penalties for littering.

Sarah Boyack: We have no such plans.

Health

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to fund an equivalent Scottish audit to the Department of Health funded National Sentinel Audit into epilepsy-related deaths in England.

Susan Deacon: The Scottish Executive are proposing to fund a bid by the charity Epilepsy Bereaved to extend the national sentinel audit they are undertaking into epilepsy deaths in England, to cover cases of epilepsy-related deaths in Scotland.

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive to provide an estimate of the total annual value of feuduties eligible from properties in Scotland and the cost of collection.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Law Commission estimate that under 10% of all feuduties which were exigible prior to the 1974 Act are still extant and payable. It is, however, impossible to estimate the total annual value of the feuduties still exigible or the cost of collection. It would be a massive and costly undertaking to attempt to identify those properties throughout Scotland whose feuduties had not been redeemed.

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-286 by Mr Jim Wallace on 30 June 1999, whether it will publish its proposed modifications to the Scottish Law Commission’s draft Bill on the abolition of feudal tenure and whether these will include changing the method of calculation of the amount of compensatory payment from that proposed in clause 9 of the draft Bill to a method using a fixed multiplier.

Mr Jim Wallace: The modified Bill will be published when it is introduced for consideration by the Scottish Parliament. We have no plans at present to change the Commission's proposals for compensation.

Local Government

Mr Keith Harding (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what action it proposes to take to ensure that local authorities pay their bills from private suppliers and contractors on time.

Mr Frank McAveety: Payment arrangements are a matter between local authorities and individual suppliers. However, we encourage local authorities to pay their bills promptly.

  The Accounts Commission publishes annual comparative information on local authorities’ performance in making payments within agreed timescales. The Late Payment of Debt (Interest) Act 1998, which gives small businesses the right to claim interest for the late payment of debt from larger companies and public bodies, should also lead local authorities and other agencies to improve their payment practice. Finally, under Best Value, the Scottish Executive is encouraging local authorities to set performance targets for a wide range of services including for the prompt payment of bills.

Police

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is an intention to increase the number of civilians working in the police force in the future.

Mr Jim Wallace: The recruitment, direction and monitoring of civilian support staff in Scottish police forces is a matter for chief constables. There are presently 4,725 civilian support staff employed by the eight forces. This is a 36% increase since 1992 and support staff now represent 24% of police service personnel. The Scottish Executive supports all initiatives which enable police officers to be released for front line policing duties.

Rural Affairs

Alasdair Morgan (Galloway and Upper Nithsdale) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-136 by Ross Finnie on 17 June 1999, what consultation has taken place with regard to a replacement for Rural Forum.

Ross Finnie: Officials have met with interested groups and organisations on various occasions. I am also aware that discussions are taking place between interested organisations, including Local Rural Partnerships.

Sport

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being taken to ensure that minority sports in Scotland are represented on sportscotland, given the opportunity that the two present vacancies offer to widen the range of sports involved in the management and supervision of the organisation.

Rhona Brankin: The process for making appointments to  sportscotland will follow the guidance laid down by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Individuals are not appointed on a representative basis. The Scottish Executive placed advertisements in the press on 6 August inviting applications from individuals interested in becoming members of  sportscotland. We hope that by advertising publicly we will attract people with a wide range of skills, backgrounds and interests from throughout Scotland. To date we have received 267 expressions of interest.

Sport

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps are being made to ensure that sportscotland takes steps to recognise and encourage Scotland’s sporting heritage.

Rhona Brankin: The focus of  sportscotland’s efforts is the development of sport in Scotland through implementation of the strategy document ‘Sport 21-Nothing Left to Chance’. By this means  sportscotland can make a major contribution to the further development of a sporting heritage of which everyone in Scotland can be proud.

Sport

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ensure that consultation and implementation of Sport 21 will include representatives of minority sports.

Rhona Brankin: Sportscotland is setting up arrangements for monitoring the implementation of Sport 21 and will ensure that the interests of all recognised sports are considered as part of that process. I will be playing an active part in the monitoring arrangements.

Sport

Michael Russell (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with  sportscotland regarding a re-location of their headquarters from Edinburgh.

Rhona Brankin: None.

Transport

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what steps will be taken to encourage other bus companies to follow the "overground" initiative announced by the First Bus Group in Glasgow this week.

Sarah Boyack: Initiatives such as "Overground", based upon co-operation and partnership, are key to the delivery of better bus services. We shall bringing forward, later this session, legislation to encourage development of more Quality Partnerships. We want local authorities to pursue these against the background of their local transport strategies so that bus service provision can be properly integrated within overall transport policies. Better infrastructure and better quality buses can lead to more frequent services and increased patronage. I expect that our forthcoming decisions on authorities’ bids for public transport fund support will encourage bus operators across Scotland to deliver similar improvements.